LIFETIME LEARNING :
A Church Executive Forum
“ Healthy Christian leaders prioritize their relationship with God ”
Self-leadership does not begin with oneself . Foundationally it begins with God . God is not simply a means to greater organizational ends . He is the ultimate end and true joy that will satisfy our deepest longings . He is the end , not merely the means to some other end .
A . Irving , PhD Duke K . McCall Professor of Christian Leadership Chair of the Department of Leadership and Discipleship The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
One of the authors I turn to frequently is C . S . Lewis . In his book A Grief Observed , Lewis makes this point while commenting on our view of something even as good as reunions in the life to come . He writes :
[ God ] can ’ t be used as a road . If you ’ re approaching Him not as the goal , but as a road , not as the end but as the means , you ’ re not really approaching Him at all . That ’ s what was really wrong with all those popular pictures of happy reunions ‘ on the further shore ’; not the simple-minded and very earthly images , but the fact that they make an End of what we can get only as a by-product of the true End [— God ].
Lewis ’ point here is vital . If we approach God simply as a means to our ends — even good ends , like being reunited with loved ones , pursuing a life of spiritual discipline and transformation , or working to establish healthy and thriving churches — we are not really approaching Him at all . When God is not our true end , He will not be our means either . In the words of Lewis , “ God will not be used as a convenience .” But when God genuinely becomes our ultimate end , when He becomes our treasure and infinite delight , then He is ready and willing to graciously give us all things needed to do His will in life and leadership . Such logic resonates with St . Augustine ’ s beautiful prayer in his Confessions : “ He loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee which he loves not for thy sake .” In my leadership classes , I often remind students that we teach what we treasure ; we motivate with what we model ; we transform others by what has truly transformed us . In other words , the people we lead do not simply need to hear what we think and know . They need to see and experience what we treasure — what has truly transformed us . The same is true with parenting , isn ’ t it ? Children generally don ’ t follow just what they were told by parents — they learn from what was lived and modeled . The question is , what are we living and modeling for those around us ? Ezra ’ s leadership provides an example of living and modeling what we teach . Drawing on a passage that has been a verse motivating me since my high school years , Ezra 7:10 reads : “ For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord , and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel .” Ezra understood that teaching others had to be linked to studying God ’ s Word and practicing it in his life . The people of our churches and organizations do not merely need dynamic leaders . They need leaders personally and passionately pursuing God . Especially for Christian leaders serving within explicit ministry contexts , these principles translate into a warning as well . To paraphrase insights I ’ ve learned from others , “ Make sure to approach the Bible more as a treasure for your heart than a tool for your ministry .” Although explicit ministry contexts often provide more occasions to focus on the Bible , there is a danger present as well — the Bible becoming more of a utilitarian means for something beyond treasuring God Himself and His Word . God must be our treasure , and not simply our means to another end .
“ In my leadership classes , I often remind students that we teach what we treasure ; we motivate with what we model ; we transform others by what has truly transformed us . In other words , the people we lead do not simply need to hear what we think and know . They need to see and experience what we treasure — what has truly transformed us .”
Christian leaders must nurture the spiritual dimension of their life through regular Bible reading and prayer , and all of this must be saturated with a worshipful treasuring of God — the One in whose presence we find “ fullness of joy ” and “ pleasures forevermore ” ( Ps 16:11 ). In Thomas A ’ Kempis ’ The Imitation of Christ , he often uses the phrase “ inordinate affections ,” providing a challenge to evaluate the proper ordering of our affections in life . It is a call to recognize and align ourselves behind a preeminent view of God in which He becomes not only the One from whom and through who we exist , work , live , and lead , but ultimately the One for whom and with whom we exist to be in relationship .
Adapted from the Forthcoming 2023 Baker Academic Book , HEALTHY LEADERSHIP FOR THRIVING ORGANIZATIONS . Footnotes have been omitted by the Church Executive editors .
Justin A . Irving , PhD has written numerous journal articles , is the author of Leadership in Christian Perspective — together with Mark Strauss — and has contributed to other leadership books , including Servant Leadership : Developments in Theory and Research and Practicing Servant Leadership : Developments in Implementation .
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